15 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 10 of 15
- ItemPolymerization driven monomer passage through monolayer chemical vapour deposition graphene([London] : Nature Publishing Group UK, 2018-10-3) Zhang, Tao; Liao, Zhongquan; Sandonas, Leonardo Medrano; Dianat, Arezoo; Liu, Xiaoling; Xiao, Peng; Amin, Ihsan; Gutierrez, Rafael; Chen, Tao; Zschech, Ehrenfried; Cuniberti, Gianaurelio; Jordan, RainerMass transport through graphene is receiving increasing attention due to the potential for molecular sieving. Experimental studies are mostly limited to the translocation of protons, ions, and water molecules, and results for larger molecules through graphene are rare. Here, we perform controlled radical polymerization with surface-anchored self-assembled initiator monolayer in a monomer solution with single-layer graphene separating the initiator from the monomer. We demonstrate that neutral monomers are able to pass through the graphene (via native defects) and increase the graphene defects ratio (Raman ID/IG) from ca. 0.09 to 0.22. The translocations of anionic and cationic monomers through graphene are significantly slower due to chemical interactions of monomers with the graphene defects. Interestingly, if micropatterned initiator-monolayers are used, the translocations of anionic monomers apparently cut the graphene sheet into congruent microscopic structures. The varied interactions between monomers and graphene defects are further investigated by quantum molecular dynamics simulations.
- ItemTwo-dimensional membrane as elastic shell with proof on the folds revealed by three-dimensional atomic mapping(London : Nature Publishing Group, 2015) Zhao, Jiong; Deng, Qingming; Ly, Thuc Hue; Han, Gang Hee; Sandeep, Gorantla; Rümmeli, Mark H.The great application potential for two-dimensional (2D) membranes (MoS2, WSe2, graphene and so on) aroused much effort to understand their fundamental mechanical properties. The out-of-plane bending rigidity is the key factor that controls the membrane morphology under external fields. Herein we provide an easy method to reconstruct the 3D structures of the folded edges of these 2D membranes on the atomic scale, using high-resolution (S)TEM images. After quantitative comparison with continuum mechanics shell model, it is verified that the bending behaviour of the studied 2D materials can be well explained by the linear elastic shell model. And the bending rigidities can thus be derived by fitting with our experimental results. Recall almost only theoretical approaches can access the bending properties of these 2D membranes before, now a new experimental method to measure the bending rigidity of such flexible and atomic thick 2D membranes is proposed.
- ItemTwinned growth behaviour of two-dimensional materials(London : Nature Publishing Group, 2016) Zhang, Tao; Jiang, Bei; Xu, Zhen; Mendes, Rafael G.; Xiao, Yao; Chen, Linfeng; Fang, Liwen; Gemming, Thomas; Chen, Shengli; Rümmeli, Mark H.; Fu, LeiTwinned growth behaviour in the rapidly emerging area of two-dimensional nanomaterials still remains unexplored although it could be exploited to fabricate heterostructure and superlattice materials. Here we demonstrate how one can utilize the twinned growth relationship between two two-dimensional materials to construct vertically stacked heterostructures. As a demonstration, we achieve 100% overlap of the two transition metal dichalcogenide layers constituting a ReS2/WS2 vertical heterostructure. Moreover, the crystal size of the stacked structure is an order of magnitude larger than previous reports. Such twinned transition metal dichalcogenides vertical heterostructures exhibit great potential for use in optical, electronic and catalytic applications. The simplicity of the twinned growth can be utilized to expand the fabrication of other heterostructures or two-dimensional material superlattice and this strategy can be considered as an enabling technology for research in the emerging field of two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures.
- ItemWavelength-tunable entangled photons from silicon-integrated III–V quantum dots(London : Nature Publishing Group, 2016) Chen, Yan; Zhang, Jiaxiang; Zopf, Michael; Jung, Kyubong; Zhang, Yang; Keil, Robert; Ding, Fei; Schmidt, Oliver G.Many of the quantum information applications rely on indistinguishable sources of polarization-entangled photons. Semiconductor quantum dots are among the leading candidates for a deterministic entangled photon source; however, due to their random growth nature, it is impossible to find different quantum dots emitting entangled photons with identical wavelengths. The wavelength tunability has therefore become a fundamental requirement for a number of envisioned applications, for example, nesting different dots via the entanglement swapping and interfacing dots with cavities/atoms. Here we report the generation of wavelength-tunable entangled photons from on-chip integrated InAs/GaAs quantum dots. With a novel anisotropic strain engineering technique based on PMN-PT/silicon micro-electromechanical system, we can recover the quantum dot electronic symmetry at different exciton emission wavelengths. Together with a footprint of several hundred microns, our device facilitates the scalable integration of indistinguishable entangled photon sources on-chip, and therefore removes a major stumbling block to the quantum-dot-based solid-state quantum information platforms.
- ItemSingle-atom catalytic growth of crystals using graphene as a case study(London : Nature Publishing Group, 2021) Yang, Xiaoqin; Liu, Yu; Ta, Huy Q.; Rezvani, Ehsan; Zhang, Yue; Zeng, Mengqi; Fu, Lei; Bachmatiuk, Alicja; Luo, Jinping; Liu, Lijun; Rümmeli, Mark H.Anchored Single-atom catalysts have emerged as a cutting-edge research field holding tremendous appeal for applications in the fields of chemicals, energy and the environment. However, single-atom-catalysts for crystal growth is a nascent field. Of the few studies available, all of them are based on state-of-the-art in situ microscopy investigations and computational studies, and they all look at the growth of monolayer graphene from a single-atom catalyst. Despite the limited number of studies, they do, collectively, represent a new sub-field of single-atom catalysis, namely single-atom catalytic growth of crystalline solids. In this review, we examine them on substrate-supported and as freestanding graphene fabrication, as well as rolled-up graphene, viz., single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT), grown from a single atom. We also briefly discuss the catalytic etching of graphene and SWCNT’s and conclude by outlining the future directions we envision this nascent field to take.
- ItemSub-cycle valleytronics: control of valley polarization using few-cycle linearly polarized pulses(Washington, DC : OSA, 2021) Jiménez-Galán, Álvaro; Silva, Rui E. F.; Smirnova, Olga; Ivanov, MishaSo far, it has been assumed that selective excitation of a desired valley in the Brillouin zone of a hexagonal two-dimensional material has to rely on using circularly polarized fields. We theoretically demonstrate a way to control the valley excitation in hexagonal 2D materials on a few-femtosecond timescale using a few-cycle, linearly polarized pulse with controlled carrier–envelope phase. The valley polarization is mapped onto the strength of the perpendicular harmonic signal of a weak, linearly polarized pulse, which allows to read this information all-optically without destroying the valley state and without relying on the Berry curvature, making our approach potentially applicable to inversion-symmetric materials. We show applicability of this method to hexagonal boron nitride and MoS2.
- ItemFreestanding few-layer sheets of a dual topological insulator(London : Nature Publishing Group, 2021) Anh, Mai Lê; Potapov, Pavel; Lubk, Axel; Doert, Thomas; Ruck, MichaelThe emergence of topological insulators (TIs) raised high expectations for their application in quantum computers and spintronics. Being bulk semiconductors, their nontrivial topology at the electronic bandgap enables dissipation-free charge and spin transport in protected metallic surface states. For application, crystalline thin films are requested in sufficient quantity. A suitable approach is the liquid phase exfoliation (LPE) of TI crystals that have layered structures. Bi2TeI is a weak 3D TI, which leads to protected edge states at the side facets of a crystal, as well as a topological crystalline insulator, which is responsible for protected states at the top and bottom faces. We developed an effective, scalable protocol for LPE of freestanding nanoflakes from Bi2TeI crystals. By heat treatment and sonication in isopropyl alcohol and poly(vinylpyrrolidone), crystalline Bi2TeI sheets with a thickness of ~50 nm were obtained and can therefore be considered for further processing toward microelectronic applications.
- ItemValence-state reflectometry of complex oxide heterointerfaces(London : Nature Publishing Group, 2016) Hamann-Borrero, Jorge E.; Macke, Sebastian; Choi, Woo Seok; Sutarto, Ronny; He, Feizhou; Radi, Abdullah; Elfimov, Ilya; Green, Robert J.; Haverkort, Maurits W.; Zabolotnyy, Volodymyr B.; Lee, Ho Nyung; Sawatzky, George A.; Hinkov, VladimirEmergent phenomena in transition-metal-oxide heterostructures such as interface superconductivity and magnetism have been attributed to electronic reconstruction, which, however, is difficult to detect and characterise. Here we overcome the associated difficulties to simultaneously address the electronic degrees of freedom and distinguish interface from bulk effects by implementing a novel approach to resonant X-ray reflectivity (RXR). Our RXR study of the chemical and valance profiles along the polar (001) direction of a LaCoO3 film on NdGaO3 reveals a pronounced valence-state reconstruction from Co3+ in the bulk to Co2+ at the surface, with an areal density close to 0.5 Co2+ ions per unit cell. An identical film capped with polar (001) LaAlO3 maintains the Co3+ valence over its entire thickness. We interpret this as evidence for electronic reconstruction in the uncapped film, involving the transfer of 0.5e− per unit cell to the subsurface CoO2 layer at its LaO-terminated polar surface.
- ItemCharacterization of encapsulated graphene layers using extreme ultraviolet coherence tomography(Washington, DC : Soc., 2022) Wiesner, Felix; Skruszewicz, Slawomir; Rödel, Christian; Abel, Johann Jakob; Reinhard, Julius; Wünsche, Martin; Nathanael, Jan; Grünewald, Marco; Hübner, Uwe; Paulus, Gerhard G.; Fuchs, SilvioMany applications of two-dimensional materials such as graphene require the encapsulation in bulk material. While a variety of methods exist for the structural and functional characterization of uncovered 2D materials, there is a need for methods that image encapsulated 2D materials as well as the surrounding matter. In this work, we use extreme ultraviolet coherence tomography to image graphene flakes buried beneath 200 nm of silicon. We show that we can identify mono-, bi-, and trilayers of graphene and quantify the thickness of the silicon bulk on top by measuring the depth-resolved reflectivity. Furthermore, we estimate the quality of the graphene interface by incorporating a model that includes the interface roughness. These results are verified by atomic force microscopy and prove that extreme ultraviolet coherence tomography is a suitable tool for imaging 2D materials embedded in bulk materials.
- ItemA hybrid MBE-based growth method for large-area synthesis of stacked hexagonal boron nitride/graphene heterostructures(London : Nature Publishing Group, 2017) Wofford, Joseph M.; Nakhaie, Siamak; Krause, Thilo; Liu, Xianjie; Ramsteiner, Manfred; Hanke, Michael; Riechert, Henning; Lopes, J.; Marcelo, J.Van der Waals heterostructures combining hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) and graphene offer many potential advantages, but remain difficult to produce as continuous films over large areas. In particular, the growth of h-BN on graphene has proven to be challenging due to the inertness of the graphene surface. Here we exploit a scalable molecular beam epitaxy based method to allow both the h-BN and graphene to form in a stacked heterostructure in the favorable growth environment provided by a Ni(111) substrate. This involves first saturating a Ni film on MgO(111) with C, growing h-BN on the exposed metal surface, and precipitating the C back to the h-BN/Ni interface to form graphene. The resulting laterally continuous heterostructure is composed of a top layer of few-layer thick h-BN on an intermediate few-layer thick graphene, lying on top of Ni/MgO(111). Examinations by synchrotron-based grazing incidence diffraction, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, and UV-Raman spectroscopy reveal that while the h-BN is relaxed, the lattice constant of graphene is significantly reduced, likely due to nitrogen doping. These results illustrate a different pathway for the production of h-BN/graphene heterostructures, and open a new perspective for the large-area preparation of heterosystems combining graphene and other 2D or 3D materials.